How to N.F.L.

by Jami Keller

Football Season is here. I am so excited to see how our hometown BSU Broncos will do this season. They are ranked 19 in the coaches poll to start and the first game, as usual, is a giant: Washington State has a much larger school and football budget. So, here we are, beginning as the underdogs. 

Football season brings with it an amazing amount of information. There are Pop Warner leagues, Jr. High, High school, and of course college and professional leagues; there are fantasy leagues, Monday night game parties. Of course if you have the NFL LEAGUE PASS, pretty much 72 hours of football every weekend. And now you can watch this season on your phone. It could easily take half of your waking hours just to digest the highlights. 

With our already busy lives, unless you make your money from being involved in this sport, can take up a considerable amount of time and energy. So how does that impact the other areas of your life? 

So let’s face it, your partner is going to be impacted. 

The following is an excerpt from the NFL’s (National Football League) Values statement. I have found that they ALL can also apply to creating New Found Love between you and your partner….

INTEGRITY
-We safeguard the integrity of the game.
-We are ethical in all of our dealings with fans, clubs, business partners, and each other.
-We follow through on our words with action. We are honest and direct.
-We create an environment that inspires trust and confidence.

PERFORMANCE AND TEAMWORK 
-We expect from everyone in our organization the highest level of performance and commitment to our mission and values.
-We set the highest standards and challenge ourselves to keep improving.
-We are accountable for our results and consistently measure our progress.
-We make smart and informed business decisions.
-We work together, sharing knowledge, information and other resources to attain the best results.
-We focus on organizational objectives, not individual agendas.

There is so much to learn from these basic principals. Yeah, it’s football, but I don’t think your partner would disagree that “{working} together, sharing knowledge, information and other resources to attain the best results” is a bad idea.  

My first football coach when I was nine years old, Tony Grimes, was big on character. As it turns out, all the best coaches are. Applying those values later on in my football career, I was able to feel the excitement of winning a 4A CIF championship game in the Los Angeles Coliseum. If you want to win, you do it with a character of integrity, humility and strength. This is true in football, and in relationships. When I sit down to watch this intriguing game with my family, because I have applied these values in each of the relationships around me, we have way more fun. We are connected, and in flow.

There is a values hierarchy. You have a hierarchy whether you have thought about it or not. We recommend leadership master John Maxwell’s: God (or your Higher Power), Spouse, Children, Work, then other Family. If we approach life in this order, we believe it maximizes the happiness in your life and allows for everything to be in a healthy order.

I would add football after other family, depending on your family. The key here is that when you put these things in order you take care of yourself in the very best way. Spoken or not you have made commitments to those you love. 
“We work together, sharing knowledge, information and other resources to attain the best results.” 

Whether you love the World Champion Ravens, or want to see if Kaepernick can Take the 49ers back to the Super Bowl this year, your values need to be balanced. What small things can you do with your other priorities before sitting on the couch with your favorite beverage? 

Show your partner some of the core principals I shared with you earlier. Do this not only by awkwardly saying “Look, honey, football is GREAT! I told you”, do this by actually applying those key values to how you conduct your life. 

Not only will this likely bring more intimacy into your relationship, but it could also mean that you won’t get “that look” after 4 hours of binge-football.  At Passion Provokers it turns out that our values are much the same as the NFL; would’t you like deeper connection and communication during football season?  It turns out that even better than winning a championship is being a champion in your family.
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There is nothing wrong with changing the meaning of NFL in your house.

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